44 The Simple Cretin
With TYM guy right in my tail, it's getting a bit hard not to panic. Of course, both of us are most likely going through to the actual competition, but I don't like losing.
It just doesn't feel good. Nobody feels good when they lose...except for people who are M. They might like it.
While pulling myself towards the start-finish point, I see that the TYM guy is slightly catching up. What a freak of nature.
To be able to catch up to me with about 80 of each stats, he must be very very skilled.
"GO GO GO! Go lane 1! Min-chul for the win! Wooohoo!"
"Come on come on lane 2! Win win win!"
From the stands and from the front row seats, many people were cheering for either TYM guy or me. It seems he's more important than I thought.
Even though I'm trying, it's very hard not to get distracted with all the noises around me. And so...
I forgot to take a breath.
That's right. Stupid me forgot to take a breath when my head was underwater, making me need to lift my head up once more.
If you don't know why this is bad, it's because the water is covering a much bigger surface area than when your head is down, making you slower.
This may be a little inconvenient or even a non-factor however, in a match up this close, it can decide the ending.
Because of that stupid blunder, he is able to catch up to be right beside me. Looking at him from underwater, I see that his torso is very, very long.
...a more perfect body for swimming. Well, I guess I missed it when we were standing next to each other. I'm about 173 cm while I'm estimating he was 168 to 170 cm.
Even though he's shorter than me, he has a longer torso. Contrary to what people might think, a longer torso is better to have than longer legs.
For a long legged person like me, we are able to kick with much more power, but our hips shift our weight, causing us to use more energy.
On top of that, kicking is one of the most inefficient uses of our legs that you can do. Our legs are made to push, not kick.
Meanwhile, people with longer torsos may not be able to generate as much power, but they conserve more energy compared to their long legged companions.
With their longer torsos, they can adjust their hips so that it doesn't twist as much, conserving their energy and making sure they are not tipping over to one side.
So yeah. The more you know.
With that in mind, I start focusing more on kicking harder and trying to not focus on my hips too much. Anyways, I guess it's a good show for the women watching.
With my longer legs and suddenly kicking harder, seemingly disregarding my stamina, I start pulling away from the TYM guy.
I'm sure this doesn't alarm him too much as this is the first lap, but he shouldn't fall too far behind.
So, he started kicking a bit harder in bursts of strength to find his grip to catch up to me. Unfortunately, his little strategy doesn't work as well as he thought.
Since the little bursts are only that, little bursts, I'm stupid pulling away and by the time I reach the start-finish point, he's around my knees.
When I push off the wall using all of my leg strength, I leave him in the dust?...I leave him in my waves as he is now behind my feet.
By now, he should understand that I'm too strong in the push off when we switch directions. I think I should expect him to go all out right before we push off the wall to counteract my insane game-like boost.
While kicking like my life depended on it, I'm sure that I suddenly heard more and more splashing from behind me...it's TYM guy, isn't it?
And surprise surprise, it's him trying his hardest to catch up. By now, he should think that my stamina is too much for him to try and outrange him.
Plus, this is a 100 meter freestyle and he's treating it like it's a 200 meter or even a 400 meter race. Seriously, this guy is too conservative with his stamina.
By now, the win is totally in my hands. By the time I was pushing off of the wall to start my final stretch, he was still reaching for the wall.
'Yeahhhhh, this guy is gonna have to defend his second spot, isn't he?'
Even with that in mind, I don't let up on my speed. Who knows, he did say that he'd beat me so I can't be too lenient on him. Just break his hopes and dreams.
.....but I'll break it lightly! Instead of a hammer, I'll dissect it.
And like I suspected, I win the qualifying in first place. Just behind me was an incredibly tired TYM guy panting his breath away.
As for the third place in lane 5...nobody cares. He wasn't even in the contest for the first. As for the rest, I'd like to this that lane 1, lane 2 and lane 5 will be able to qualify without even going for their second run.
Obviously, lane 1 is me and lane 2 is TYM guy. Lane 5 was a dude that I swam with in the district tournament a year ago. A really talented fellow. Not someone on my radar though.
Never heard of his name outside of korea, so even though he has talent, I don't think I'll see him in FINA or some other league.
As I said, the fastest time would get a little golden medal with a "Q" on it and since this was the first run and only 10 out of the 50 schools competed, it's going to be a long day.
Also, consider the fact that each school has 2 participants for each category, you'd sleep yourself to death before this finishes.
So, after that amazing swim from TYM guy and I, we went over to the officials to check our times.
"Yo yo yo, referee-smeferee. What do?"
As I start making small talk to the referee, TYM guy, who I know is named Beom-sok, still doesn't seem to understand why you need to get friendly with the ref.
The referee in the game is the God. No questions asked. If you are friendly with him, it's like hugging a lifeboat on a sinking ship or having a thick jacket on a cold winter night.
"...what do?"
"Yeah. Like, how'd I do? Something like that"
The uneducated Beom-sok asks me with a confused face and I answer him. The referee, amused with my weird way of talking, tells us our times.
"Alright then. Min-chul sshi, you got 1:13.54. annndddd, Mr. Beom-sok sshi, tou got 1:18.64"
"Youch. Sorry Beom-sok. Better luck next time"
"That was an amazing race. Thank you for that Min-chul"
"...huh? I guess...you're welcome?"
"Yes. Thank you for making me push myself"
After thanking me for that race, he suddenly walks away and into the stands to hang out with his friend group. Since his friends aren't swimmers, they are in the regular stands.
He already changed and is talking and chatting with his friends about whatever...such a weird guy.
(So-young MC)
As I saw Min-chul beat that long torso having cretin, the Mantas, and even the Sharks and some Candirus who were watching were celebrating.
After all, he finished 100 meters freestyle in a little above 70 seconds. I'm not really too happy since I was expecting this.
There was no other outcome.
In case he DID lose, I'd make sure he never lost again. Luckily, he won. Well, luckily for that Beom-sok fellow.
As I leave the little front row seats to head to the bathroom, I call a woman named A-yeong.
In the stands somewhere, an insanely beautiful high schooler answers her phone and seeing the caller, she lightly smiles and takes it.
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(A.N) from now on, people calling on their phones will be bracketed as [[____]] got it? Coolio
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[[is there something you want, So-young?]]
[[yeah. Keep your simpleton boy away from Min-chul]]
Hearing her talk about the simpleton boy, Beom-sok, she got a bit confused. Keep him away? They haven't talked though.
[[im not sure I understand what you mean]]
[[the simpleton was trash-talking our lor- Min-chul]]
Almost letting the word slip, So-young caught it just in time. Meanwhile, A-yeong on the other side was very very angry.
[[.....I apologize. I'll go over to the challenged idiot and then apologize to Min-chul]]
[[there is no need to apologize to-]]
[[alright, see ya bye bye. Imma talk to Min-chul now!]]
'.....that little!'
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